Why do Russian propagandists lie? Habit/Cynicism/No fear of reprisal

– Habit
– Cynicism
– No fear of consequences in “weak” Western society.

This Further evidence of why, as +Curt Doolittle says, we need to PUNISH THE LIARS!

“Russia’santi-Ukrainian propagandist bear their share of responsibility for this.

Lying comes naturally to those of us who grew up in the Soviet Union. I was recently chatting with an employee of the Russian consulate in New York. I wanted to hear his views on the international situation, and I generally find it easier to draw people out if you agree with them rather than argue. So I played along, and soon discovered to my horror that I had no difficulty mouthing the official Russian line on U.S.-Russian relations. I was suddenly back in my school days during Leonid Brezhnev’s era, when I could earnestly declare one thing at the weekly political information class while thinking exactly the opposite.

And so it is with the Russian journalists. Toeing the party line comes naturally to them. I’m sure they don’t even consider it lying – in much the same way as taking stuff from a factory or an office was never considered stealing back in the days of the Soviet Union. It was just the Soviet way.

There is one other peculiarity of the latent Soviet-style newthink. When you live in Russia, you become convinced that nothing in that country ever changes. Every regime isforever. To be sure, deep down you know that the day will eventually arrivewhen all Soviet television channels start playing solemn music or broadcastingthe Swan Lake ballet over and over again, and then a grave-faced announcer will come on to inform the nation that it has suffered an irreparable loss and the current Josef Stalin, Brezhnev or Putin has passed away. But when that day does arrive, it is always a great surprise. The nation suddenly feels orphaned and lost.

The West, on the other hand, looks flimsy and vulnerable to the Russians. How can the United States be strong if every two years the entire House of Representatives has to be reelected and the sitting president has to submit to popular vote after just four years and leave office after eight? How can Europeans have any law and order if you hardly ever see cops on their streets? Pointing out the fact thatthe United States has had the same Constitution for nearly 250 years simply doesn’t work. Russians, who have lived under half-dozen different constitutions over the past century and who see their country jerk this way and that with every new ruler, are forever expecting the dollar to crumble and the United States to disintegrate.

In their hearts of hearts, all those solovyovs and kiselyovs simply don’t believe that the Putin regime will one day end and that they will have to answer for their actions. Even if they do, they’re convinced that in the weak-kneed democracies will give them no more than a slap on the wrist. After all, the freedom of speech is one of the basic democratic principles – and the one, incidentally, they’re going to use in Washington to avoid U.S. sanctions.”